It took Nationals manager Dave Martinez longer than normal to reach the press conference room after Friday night’s game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
And perhaps for good reason, as the host Nationals suffered their most lopsided loss of the season in a 12-2 setback to the Phillies at damp Nationals Park.
The Washington pitching staff allowed three homers, eight walks and 15 hits — not the kind of numbers for a team with the second-best ERA in the National League.
“You know what? We are moving on. Forget about it,” said Martinez, the rookie manager. “For me today was the first game where we really got blown out.”
He was right.
Washington lost 13-6 at Atlanta on April 3 — the most runs allowed this season by the Nationals.
The 10-run loss Friday bettered that setback to the Braves more than two months ago.
“We have to keep our heads up. Come back tomorrow and do it again,” Martinez said.
Tanner Roark, the starting pitcher for the Nationals, gave up seven hits, six runs and four walks with seven strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He fell to 3-8 on the season and his ERA soared to 4.27.
“He fell behind some of their hitters,” Martinez said. “It was a rough day. It just went south” as the Phillies scored three runs off lefty reliever Sammy Solis in the eighth.
Phillies first baseman Carlos Santana had four RBI and teammate Odubel Herrera had four hits and homered in his fifth game in a row.
“Carlos prides himself on walks. He wants to have 100 walks a season. That’s why he is so valuable whether he’s swinging the bat the way he wants to or not,” said Gabe Kapler, the Phillies rookie manager.
Herrera hit a homer off Roark in the third and became the sixth Phillies player to go deep five games in a row.
One of the few bright spots for Washington was center fielder Michael A. Taylor, who extended his hitting streak to 13 games and swiped a league-high 22 stolen base of the year.
“I am just looking to get good pitches,” Taylor said.
But now the Phillies (40-33) are ahead of the Nationals (40-34) for second place behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East.
“I thought one more thing that was notable was that every guy who pitched for us today was not on our Opening Day,” Kapler said. “Kudos to our player development department, excellent job developing these guys. These guys came in and threw strikes all night long.”
“It’s not even All-Star Break yet. We’ll be fine. I’m confident in all these guys in here, and guys are coming back from injuries, and once we get it clicking I think we’ll be okay,” said Roark.
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